Full of Wisdom and Perfect in Beauty: 1. Introduction

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1. Introduction

"O Tyre, you have said, I am perfect in beauty.'Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty.They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.Of oaks of Bashan they made your oars; they made your deck of pines from the coasts of Cyprus, inlaid with ivory.Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail, serving as your ensign; blue and purple from the coasts of Eli'shah was your awning.The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; skilled men of Zemer were in you, they were your pilots.The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you, caulking your seams; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you, to barter for your wares. Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war; they hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you splendor.The men of Arvad and Helech were upon your walls round about, and men of Gamad were in your towers; they hung their shields upon your walls round about; they made perfect your beauty.Tarshish trafficked with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares.Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged the persons of men and vessels of bronze for your merchandise.Beth-togar'mah exchanged for your wares horses, war horses, and mules.The men of Rhodes traded with you; many coastlands were your own special markets, they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony.Edom trafficked with you because of your abundant goods; they exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate.Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat, olives and early figs, honey, oil, and balm.Damascus trafficked with you for your abundant goods, because of your great wealth of every kind; wine of Helbon, and white wool,and wine from Uzal they exchanged for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were bartered for your merchandise.Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding.Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they trafficked with you.The traders of Sheba and Ra'amah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices, and all precious stones, and gold.Haran, Canneh, Eden, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you.These traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored stuff, bound with cords and made secure; in these they traded with you.The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. "

So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas.Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners and your pilots, your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your company that is in your midst, sink into the heart of the seas on the day of your ruin.At the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside shakes,and down from their ships come all that handle the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the shoreand wail aloud over you, and cry bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes;they make themselves bald for you, and gird themselves with sackcloth, and they weep over you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning.In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you, and lament over you: Who was ever destroyed like Tyre in the midst of the sea?When your wares came from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with your abundant wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew have sunk with you.All the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you; and their kings are horribly afraid, their faces are convulsed.The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more for ever.'"

(Ezekiel, XXVII)

Author´s Note: #1This fic is very long. And I mean very, very long. It´s divided by arcs, and covers the reigns of the four last kings of Númenor before the Downfall (Ar-Sakalthôr, Ar-Gimilzôr, Tar-Palantír and Ar-Pharazôn).

#2 The historical and cultural elements of this fic have been a) invented, b) adapted or c) transformed from a certain number of civilisations. However, I am not trying to mirror any of those civilisations in a total sense (obviously, since this would exclude the others) or even in a partial one, with the faithfulness of an historian. I am just using their elements for my own purposes.

#3 The most "obvious" of those civilisations (or at last the one that will become more obvious) is one I think that was very much in Tolkien´s own thoughts for a number of reasons. AFAIK, no one has ever reached this same conclusion, though I could be wrong. So feel free to be shocked and disagree with me.

#4 The Thorny Canon Issue: First and foremost, yes, I am following canon, at least a good 98 of it. There are one or two small changes, like the exact location of Armenelos (I just wanted it to be closer to the Meneltarma...). And one or two divergences. The main one is no doubt the date and nature of the exile(s) of the Faithful, an issue that wasn´t too clear in Tolkien´s own mind. The second is a divergence from the Akallabêth (the nature of the relationship between Ar-Pharazôn and Ar-Zimraphel), but it follows the information given by Tolkien in HoME XII: The Peoples of Middle-Earth. Amandil´s brother was stolen from that version as well.

Otherwise, I have built personalities for the characters, filled historical, religious and cultural gaps, and found solutions for the problems that Tolkien´s text presented for me as a writer. All those are my own, and might feel a bit unusual at times.

#5 Completion: I have written many chapters already, and planned everything until the end. Still, if I am struck by lightning in the next few months, or drown, or fall off a cliff, or simply decide that the fic is going to the dogs, after all, and that it´s not worth to continue it, it might be stopped. I will try to prevent this from happening, though.

Warnings: for now, none.

Disclaimers: The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Tales and HoME XII belong to Tolkien.

This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.

Full of Wisdom and Perfect in Beauty

The story you have begun posting sounds most interesting. A long Numenor story! I certainly will be reading this. I really hope you won't be "struck by lightning, or drown, or fall off a cliff" anytime soon!!!

You have masterfully included some spoilers in the first chapter - the snakes - the reference to Tar-Palantir and Gimilzor, am I right?

One suggestion is to include the date of action - I calculated the marriage of Inzilbeth should take place sometime around 3033-3034?

Please, update soon!

My very best wishes,

Aganaphel

Full of Wisdom and Perfect in Beauty

Thank you, thank you! I am putting a lot of effort in this story (too much for what is healthy, actually), and yours is the first comment I´ve got. :) I think there aren´t too many Númenor fans, probably because Tolkien largely neglected to develop that part himself.

No, I´m not going to fall of a cliff anytimes soon (because I´m nowhere near one), but there are chances yet that I won´t like how the fic is progressing.

To include the dates seems like a reasonable idea, once I finally manage to get them all inside my head... the marriage of Inzilbeth does take place in 3034, though.

Talk to Maeve Riannon

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